The Advocates goal is to change attitudes about and beliefs towards people with mental illness. Many of the problems facing people with mental illness result from public misunderstandings about mental illness or psychiatric disorders.

These misunderstandings can rob people of their rightful life opportunities as well as result in a failure to prioritize mental health issues in the political arena.

This disparity between what is available and what is provided for people with mental illness creates a gap in services that is significant and should motivate the advocate to change the existing service structures or delivery systems. Public ignorance translates to stigma, prejudice, and discrimination that undermines equal opportunities and permeates common assumptions about mental illness.

Therefore the advocate must be a person of action and this book or handbook was written for the advocate that wants strategies that will advance the mental health agenda and focuses on the "how to" not the "why" in short this is your practical guide for success as an advocate.

Who is an Advocate?

There are four groups that commonly respond to the call for mental health advocacy:

1.) Consumers of Mental Health Services

2.) The Families of Consumers

3.) Mental Health Service Providers

4.) Concerned Civic-Minded Citizens

These four groups are not a single voice and there is allot of diversity amongst them. Hence advocates need to be aware of the perspective of various constituencies or groups when creating their action plan. When possible advocates from all four groups should work together, this will increase the ability to obtain resources and create better opportunities for people who utilize mental health services.

The Agenda of the Advocate

The mental health advocates' agenda is a collection of goals that will be accomplished through a series of discrete projects. Accomplishing these projects in part requires tearing down the prejudice and discrimination of mental illness that blocks or hinders the opportunities that are available for consumers of mental health services. Most advocates work on multiple projects to enhance opportunities and resources for consumers of mental health services. This could include but not be limited to working with the local legislature to increase spending on mental heath services while educating employers to hire.

Four Questions

This handbook is a practical guide for the mental health advocate with a specific social change project and is based on four straightforward questions:

1.) What is the problem ?

2.) Who are the targets ?

3.) What are the change strategies ?

4.) Did the project have any impact ?

When the advocate answers these questions they will yield an action plan.

While much of the adult population endorses some prejudice associated with mental illness, the advocate cannot go after everyone. In order for the advocate to be successful everyone has to be divided into specific groups or targeted. The term we use is "Power Groups", examples of power groups include but are not limited to,

Advocacy programs are most effective when targeting people in these power groups. Paraphrasing a past speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the most effective advocacy agendas and stigma-reduction programs are local.

Advocates need to target a key power group within well-defined communities, they must try to:

1.) Get all doctors in a large provider network to improve their practice for people with mental illness.

2.) Get all state legislators to support an expanded mental health funding bill.

The advocate that uses the four questions first will be able to find the target or power group that they will engage so that they can effect change and advance toward the goal of better mental health services.

Who are the People with Mental Illness in This Handbook?

The primary focus of this handbook is the mental health agenda of adults with psychiatric disabilities. These are people who, because of serious mental illness are not able to successfully attain typical goals of adulthood including employment, housing, and relationships.

A Final Point About Language

There is no easy solution to the problem of how to identify a particular group, advocates need to be aware of the tension that they can create. Advocates need to be prepared to deal with anger or misunderstandings that may come about because of the language or terminology that we use.

Some advocates and social scientists make the compelling point that the language that we use can worsen social injustices that rob life opportunities from people with mental illness. Hence it is important for advocates to be aware of the choices they make in referring to their constituencies and the other stakeholder groups.

Language, what you say and how you say it can make or break a campaign. Our goal as advocates should be always to unite not divide. Focus on correcting the disparity and increasing both opportunities and resources for people with mental illness.

Over time the barriers will be broken and we will develop positive community-based services for our stakeholders.